(Jewish Group) New York pulls polio vaccine slogan over antisemitism allegations

A state assemblyman complained about the message on this truck sent by the state Health Department to a Long Island town in New York. Courtesy of Ari Brown

New York’s Department of Health has pulled a campaign that advertised polio vaccines due to complaints that a slogan contained antisemitic stereotypes.

A truck bearing the words, “Polio is spreading in Israel. Get immunized now,” was seen in front of a kosher supermarket in the Long Island town of Cedarhurst earlier this week. In a letter sent to Health Department Commissioner Sam Miller, Republican New York State Assemblyman Ari Brown said he was “appalled” by the slogan, saying it was reminiscent of the centuries-old libelous claim that Jews are a vector of disease.

“My mother went through the Holocaust. I’ve heard this ‘Jews spread disease thing’ right away,” Brown told the Forward, noting that the inventor of the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk, was Jewish.

In a statement sent to the Forward, Miller said the campaign was in response to four polio cases in Israeli children, the first cases in the country in 33 years. The campaign was aimed at urging people who travel to Israel and other countries with recent polio outbreaks to get vaccinated.

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